They won the bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics, having beaten Great Britain 2-0 in the quarter-finals, with many of the current England squad involved.

GB flopped in that match at Coventry after beating Brazil in front of a record 70,000 crowd at Wembley and Sampson, 32, says host status could have a similar effect on the current Canadian team.

“They’ve put their lives on hold for this tournament but we’re excited by the challenge and our squad is ready to take on the Canadian nation,” he added.

Over 54,000 fans are expected to pack into BC Place for the last-eight tie.

England wary of ‘most aggressive team’

Sampson, who was appointed 18 months ago and led his side to their first World Cup knockout win in the last round against Norway, made a point of highlighting Canada’s physical approach in his pre-match news conference.

He said his side are ready to face the “most aggressive team in the tournament”.

The Welshman added: “We’ve got a qualified referee on our staff and looking back at their games he says the number of fouls awarded against them could have been quadrupled. I hope the referee realises there are 22 players on the pitch.”

‘We’ll give England hell’

John Herdman (left) and Mark Sampson both have a fondness for crisp, white shirts

When it was the turn of Herdman to speak to the media, Sampson’s comments were put to the Canada boss.

And he was happy to support the notion that his team will play aggressively.

“We’re looking forward to getting out there and giving England hell,” said Herdman.

“There’s one team that wants to prevent us from getting into the next round and a team here that’s been dreaming of that for the last three or four years, maybe their whole lives.

“We’ll be going out there as physical as we can and doing what Canadians do. The players will put their bodies on the line.”

After losing their opening Group F game to France, England qualified for the second round with consecutive wins over lowly-ranked Mexico and Colombia. Their last-16 victory over Euro 2013 finalists Norway was only the third World Cup knockout win by a senior England team in the men’s or women’s game since 1990.

The two previous successes came when England’s men beat Ecuador in the last 16 of the 2006 World Cup and defeated Denmark at the same stage in 2002.

A peak audience of 2.3m people watched England’s World Cup opener against France on BBC television, but average attendances in the top division of the domestic Women’s Super League are just below 1,000.

England are one of the best-funded teams at the World Cup, although Sampson said Canada were fortunate to receive more financial backing than the host nation’s men’s team.

“There’s only one thing that will grow the game and that’s good England performances and good England results,” said the Lionesses manager. “The way our players carry themselves and how well we’re looked at back home is up to people to decide.

“We’re fully aware of what we need to do to perform. We’re good tourists and good people, so we hope people look at this team and feel they can connect with it.”